All Too Quiet
by paynesgrey
Summary: Miroku realizes that Sango doesn't like the silence. Miroku x Sango. Mid-series. ONE-SHOT. This will not be continued.


AN: Written for my A-Z meme at my Livejournal for the prompt "Quiet" by eggplantlady's request. This one-shot will not be continued.

All Too Quiet

Some nights it's so quiet that Sango has to strain herself in order to hear anything, whether it's the song of a brave bird or the steady breathing of one of her companions.

The forests are practically empty of sound. Naraku has either destroyed or scared away most of the animal life in the forest while they follow his trail. It's unusual for them to hear much in their hot pursuit; it's how Inuyasha tracks him, that and the stench of miasma that makes him surlier than usual.

Sango finds the stillness of nature bothersome, almost uncomfortable as the unnaturalness of it prickles her skin. Some nights, after a grating dream of screaming and sounds of running blood, waking up to nothing makes her feel worse.

She knows it's going to take a long time for things to get back to normal.

On a night like this, when Naraku is particularly close and his stench is still an invisible film on the air, Sango doesn't like the silence and is too scared to go to sleep to meet her piercing nightmares.

Instead she waves off rest and finds a spring, and while Kagome can sleep without death chasing her, Sango bathes alone, and she keeps her ears open, always listening for potential danger.

She doesn't even care when Miroku is obviously spying at her from the bushes. She supposes she could get carried away, yell at him and then knock him over the head with her Hiraikotsu. But tonight she doesn't. She sinks into the warm water and lets him be.

She doesn't want to admit just how much comfort his presence in the mute forest brings her.

When she gets dressed, she doesn't bother hurrying; she does things as normal, and when she turns toward his direction, she can almost feel him tensing.

"Well don't just sit there. Help me bring some firewood back to camp," she hollers at him, and after a second Miroku rises from the brush and rubs the back of his head sheepishly from being caught.

"You knew I was there the entire time, didn't you?" he asks her, following her lead as she starts to search for loose twigs and branches.

She makes a noise in her throat of exasperation and affirmation, and Miroku nods, and Sango almost delights on the inquisitive look on his face as he tries to decipher her motives for not calling him out and then subsequently punishing him.

She sighs audibly. "You know what; tonight I don't even care. Peep away! It's not like you haven't before," she says, sounding defeated. There's been enough going on: Naraku's reign, death and destruction, Kohaku's fading life, and quiet unnatural forests.

Miroku doesn't respond to her rant, but he does watch her with a solemn expression, still thinking and trying to find the right words to lift her spirits. Sango thinks he may be silent for a long time; there really is nothing good enough to say.

"I am guessing tomorrow you will feel differently," he finally says, trying to inject some humor into the bleak air between them, and Sango stops and raises a single eyebrow as she meets his eyes.

"Perhaps," she says, and she points a finger at him warningly. "You should learn your lesson, you know. It's not polite, and you know it's wrong, yet you do it anyway."

Miroku puts a hand on his chest, affronted. "My dear Sango, I am merely there for your protection." She eyes him suspiciously; he knows damn well she doesn't need any of that. "I assure you I saw nothing. Your form is a still a chaste mystery to me."

"Yeah right, and I'll believe that when the animals all return to the forests," she says with a snort.

Her words give him pause, and he looks a bit startled with realization. "Ah," he says, and she knows it's indication he's figured her out - well, at least for tonight.

"It's comforting...knowing I can hear some things, the things that I know, even if it's just your loud breathing in the bushes." She looks up at the partially cloudy sky and searches for the crescent moon hidden under a thin cloud. "If only the animals had a place to return - a safe place, and I'd give anything to hear the owls hooting in the forest again, or the squirrels scurrying in the trees. Maybe they do that somewhere, but not here, not on this path we're going."

Miroku nods, but he doesn't say anything. He just watches her, and finally, they head back to camp wordlessly where Inuyasha is keeping guard and the rest of their companions are curled up in their bedding.

Just as Sango has settled into her own blankets, she hears a noise and her eyes open immediately. It's a strange noise, and any other person who doesn't have her training would think it's just an owl hooting; however, Sango knows differently. Someone is making that noise to sound like a bird, and when she shifts on her side to her right, she realizes just who that person is.

"What are you doing?" she whispers at him as he props himself up to face her. She tries not to smile, but Miroku's own amusement is becoming contagious.

"Trying to make you feel better," he says. "And since you won't let me give you comfort in my usual way, I thought I'd try this."

"I don't even want to ask what your usual way is, Houshi-sama," she says wryly.

"Someday you'll change your mind," he says, grinning.

"Bird calls? You think I'd fall for that?" she asks.

"Of course not," he says, still amused. "I wanted to relieve your stress, you know, before you fall asleep."

Sango stares at him, but she feels herself relaxing into the warmth of her bedding. She chuckles a little, and she notices by his expression that it pleases him greatly.

"Good night, Houshi-sama," she says, throwing him a sated look. He bows his head a little and closes his eyes. She watches him as he shifts his body onto his back, and he pulls the covers over him, looking comfortable.

Sango falls to slumber with a light smile on her lips. Thanks to Miroku she hears the memory of his ridiculous birdcalls reverberating in her head. Soon, she falls asleep to it, thinking of him, and dreaming of owls flying and hooting under the moon, finally returning to the peace of the demon-free forests thanks to them.

END


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